SaasRise Mastermind Recap - Jan 14, 2026

Come join us next Wednesday at 8am PT and 12pm PT on Zoom for the type of peer advice you can only get from other SaaS CEOs who are in the trenches.

🚀 Digital Marketing Strategy for B2B Marketplace

Challenges:
Never done paid advertising before despite reaching $1M ARR; unclear which channels to prioritize (paid ads, retargeting, affiliates, social media); high churn rate; customers’ success depends on their own sales performance

Advice:
Focus 90% of efforts on Meta ads (Facebook/Instagram); use retargeting and lookalike audiences; create dedicated landing pages with demo videos rather than driving to homepage; keep landing pages linear with clear conversion paths; start YouTube channel for long-form content to support SEO; focus on retention with tiered plans and move customers from monthly to annual subscriptions

🌍 Geographic Market Expansion

Challenges:
Expanding from Italy to the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia) with cultural, language, and legal differences; product feeling non-localized despite translation

Advice:
Find local channel partners with existing networks; run small validation campaigns ($5K–$10K) before full commitment; localize UI/UX beyond language to match local expectations; use native speakers instead of AI translations

🧪 New SaaS Product Validation

Challenges:
Validating product-market fit for a new Agile project management tool

Advice:
Run focus groups with project managers; speak directly with early users; host webinars to demonstrate solutions and gather feedback; offer preview access in exchange for collaboration

📈 Go-to-Market and SEO Strategy

Challenges:
No marketing budget spent; minimal content; no dedicated marketer; reliance on cold outreach only

Advice:
Produce 20 blog posts per month, 8 newsletters, and 4 YouTube videos; use assistants to turn webinars into content; pay listicle sites for backlinks; write comparison posts; add JSON-LD formatting for AI indexing; add AI-summary buttons for ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity; prioritize LinkedIn organic content

🔄 Trial-to-Paid Conversion Ownership

Challenges:
Unclear ownership of trial-to-paid conversion; unclear compensation responsibility

Advice:
Marketing should own gross new customers for SMB/mid-market ($3.5K ACV); Customer Success should own NRR and retention; marketing variable comp should be 20–25%; focus on reducing churn in first 90 days if monthly churn exceeds 4%

🎨 AI-Powered UI/UX Design

Challenges:
Deciding whether to replace traditional design tools; balancing speed vs. quality

Advice:
Google AI Studio outperforms Figma Make; AI-native tools enable 3–5× faster shipping with 80–90% design quality; AI tools reduce handoffs and iteration overhead

📊 Display Ad Performance Optimization

Challenges:
Extremely low CTR (0.08%); high spend with poor performance

Advice:
Verify audience targeting and country exclusions; expand to Meta for cheaper CPMs; normal CTR should be ≥0.5%; low CTR indicates targeting or creative issues; check list match rates (aim for 40–50%)

Best Advice

Create a focused, linear conversion path for prospects. Instead of sending traffic to a complex homepage, use dedicated landing pages with clear CTAs (watch demo, start trial). Removing distractions increases conversion rates by guiding users through one specific journey.

Here are the tools recommended during the meeting:

Marketing & Advertising

• Meta Ads – paid ads, retargeting, lookalike audiences
• Google Ads (Display & Performance Max) – retargeting
• LinkedIn Ads – matched audience advertising
• AdRoll – retargeting platform

SEO & Content Marketing

• Athena – virtual assistants for content production
• Views to Clients – YouTube production agency
• Hype Desk – listicle website discovery
• ChatGPT – AI content summarization and indexing
• Gemini – AI content summarization and indexing
• Perplexity – AI content summarization and indexing
• Grok – AI content summarization and indexing

Data & Lead Sourcing

• Store Leads – e-commerce store directory
• Clay – data enrichment
• Audience Labs – data enrichment
• Apollo – B2B contact data
• ZoomInfo – B2B contact data

UI/UX Design & Development

• Google AI Studio – AI-powered UI/UX generation
• Lovable – design-to-code AI tool
• Claude Code – AI development assistant
• Figma Make – traditional design tool
• UX Pilot – UI/UX AI tool
• UX Magic – UI/UX AI tool

Hiring & Team Assessment

• PI Index – personality and culture assessment
• Cultural Index – alternative assessment tool

PR & Distribution

• PR Wire – press release distribution